When God Sleeps

Synopsis

This rap-punk-rock documentary tells the story of Iranian musician Shahin Najafi who is forced into hiding after hardline clerics issue a fatwa for his death, incensed by a rap song that focuses on the oppression of women and human rights abuses.

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Shahin Najafi makes for a worthy case study: who he is / what he represents is complex. This is a guy who grew up poor in small town Iran, at one point dreamed of being a cleric, and who because of his subsequent subversive activities ended up an arrogant if fitfully charming hipster songwriter in Cologne (w/ occasional man bun) w/ a fatwa looming over him. We dance usefully between admiration and critical appraisal.